life: acoustic & amplified
poetry, quotes & thoughts about life
Archive for the category “words”
You don’t have to be a star, baby, to be in my show…
I found this art/quote about ordinary people yesterday and didn’t think too much about it. As you can probably tell, I am a seeker of inspiration and am actively looking to find thes
e types of things all the time. I liked it, and thought I could use it at some point, and so I went ahead with the process of saving it. As I tried to save it, my computer got ‘stuck’. So I, as I am prone to do, kept hitting the same button to ‘un-stick’ it – I finally got disgusted and ‘re-set’ moving on to other things. This morning, as I was looking through some pictures, I saw that I had saved it 18 times!!! hahaha Sometimes it takes seeing 18 images of the same quote to get my attention and to embrace the full impact of said quote! hee
Sometimes we look at others and say, ‘I could never do anything so amazing. They do extraordinary things because they are just extraordinary people – better than me.’ I believe each created person has the same value on
this earth – each of us have the same potential to change the world. We are all called to be who we have been created to be. To use our time wisely. It is a very personal journey and living our lives faithfully, diligently, consistently and rightly is our purpose. (I want to clarify, there is no human, correct answer to ‘Rightly before God’ it simply means ‘actions done with unconditional love’).
Truth is, that everything in this world that is accomplished is done by ‘ordinary-extraordinary’ people who believed in their dreams, worked hard and wouldn’t give up. We are all ordinary…AND…we are all extraordinary. This is not about becoming famous, or becoming fabulously wealthy – this is about becoming our best, truest, highest selves and then manifesting that into the world in whatever way we feel we should – no matter what other people say. One act of true kindness changes the world for the better. We may never know how even one kind word, or a well-timed recognition may change someone’s life.
This truth brings hope to me. This truth keeps me humble. This truth keeps me seeking consistency becoming my truest self. This truth keeps my heart open, and keeps me seeking to forgive myself, and others, for our imperfections. This truth gives me the courage to continue to pursue my dreams and step into my destiny. I hope it doesn’t take you reading this quote 18 times to feel the impact in your soul and in your every day life! 🙂
Looking for life’s ‘greenest grass’?
What do I want?
Where do I get it?
Why are some people successful,
While others wander – lost?
How do Dreams come true?
I believe we can all have the greenest of grass…IF we want it – seek it with passion –
water the grass properly!
Dreams can’t become reality until there is action.
There is a harmony and balance that must be achieved.
Much thought, and planning must be done – then lots of hard work must be accomplished!
We want green grass – but do we want to water it?
Do we have the passion?
Will we wake up and become aware of our gift of our time, our life?
We usually don’t even take notice of our neighbors hard work watering and tending their yard – until they win the ‘yard of the month’ –
then we get jealous and want their green grass!
All things we dream of are possible
If we really want them!
Living Hopefully
What are your deepest, holiest hopes? Hopes for your life? For your family? Your community? Your world? The universe? Imagine those hopes fulfilled. Give your heart to your hopes. This is faith.
Don’t think that your hopes are too audacious. God’s hopes for the world are even more audacious than you can imagine. Mary thought it audacious that God should choose her to carry God’s hope for the world, but it was true. The same is true of us.
It might seem that your life is too messed up, the world too much in the grip of evil, for there to be much hope. But our hope doesn’t come from wishful thinking, or from the world or its condition. It comes from God. Hope rises from the love that is at the heart of all things. It comes from trust that the love that created the world can transform the world. Of course there is evil in the world, and failure in our own lives, but we don’t live under its spell. We choose to live by the light of God’s promise, not the world’s threats and disappointments. Exercise the muscles of hope, not despair, for despair holds the door open for evil, while hope holds the door open for God.
Attend to your hope. Listen to it. Bring it to mind. Envision the fulfillment of your hope. Let it be real. Live as if your trust it. Imagine it coming to pass. Live as if it is coming to pass even now. Live as if Christ is actually coming.
God moves this world not by force but by the Spirit. By participating in God’s hope for the world, like Mary did, we help it to come to fruition — no matter how many generations it takes. This Advent season, give voice to your hope, and live by its light. Be awake. Live hopefully.
________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
make you words matter and your actions match!
Words can break someone into a million pieces, but they can also put them back together. I hope you use yours for good, because the only words you will regret more than the ones left unsaid are the ones you use to intentionally hurt someone.
– Taylor Swift
I am…and so are you!
God is love. The One at the heart of all being is love—a desire for blessing, well-being and oneness, a delight in our being woven together. We are children of such love: love creates us, and in our very being we bear love into the world. The purpose of life is to be transparent to this love, to live in the present moment in full awareness of the love of God that is our life and being. We do not fret about how we will be judged or what will become of us, because we know that we belong to this love. The more clearly we see the God of love, the more purely we shine with that very love. God’s compassion, self-giving and delight becomes our whole life. The struggle in life is to shed the things that impede the perfect love that is inherent in us, to become the pure love that is our nature. A saint is not necessarily someone who is extraordinarily “good,” or made holy in some unique way, but someone who is translucent with love. It is not a stretch to become such a person; you were born so. You only have to reclaim it. May it be your prayer always to return to the present moment, to return to the Loving One, to return to the love that is you.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Used With Permission
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
A Way of Living
Zig Ziglar, has a way with words. He said, “When I speak, people will occasionally say…’Zig, I loved your talk, but for me, motivation doesn’t last!’ I always tell them…bathing doesn’t either. That’s why I recommend it daily.”
I recently read a book called, ‘One Thousand Gifts’ by Ann Voskamp http://onethousandgifts.com/, which is about living a life of thanksgiving – no matter what your circumstances.
It is an amazingly beautiful book which is now on my short list of all time favs, along with The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho http://harpercollins.com/books/The-Alchemist-Paulo-Coelho/?isbn=9780061122415 and The Shack by William P. Young http://theshackbook.com/.
There is a thought which makes perfect sense, even though in today’s world, it does not seem to be very popular – in order to get something different, you must DO something different. Along with this thought, the truth of Zig Ziglar’s statement resounds through the air, it must become a way of living. Much more important than bathing, if we are going to create happiness, we must always be in awareness of our choices.
Each of our lives are valuable and important. Our living demands and deserves our attention. We are responsible for our choices and for our own happiness. We must stay aware of what we want in our lives. If you are not happy and you want to be happy, then you must do something differently than you are doing now if you want happiness in your life. This is not about easy – anything of value is never about easy, but it is possible! Our lives have so much more value than most of us even consider.
When I set out, many years ago now, I was a mess. I still am – but now I know the truth, I am a beautiful mess with God as my helper. I have nothing to brag of on my own, but I am the apple of God’s eye. I was broken into millions of pieces by abuse, control, manipulation, loss mistakes, grief and disillusion. With God’s help, I was determined to do it differently than I had seen, and done, all my life. With the words of Jesus in Matthew chapters 5, 6 & 7 to help me with my choices, and by taking Psalm 37 to heart and not trusting to my own selfish way of thinking, I decided I would not fight for ‘fairness’ from others, but instead I would try only to work on my own heart and life. I was determined to refuse bitterness, anger or victimhood in my life. I knew I had a very small and limited view of life and so my faith was in something bigger than myself.
In order to do this I had to stay in a place of constant awareness. I had to choose to face my truth. Choose to battle the darkness within my heart. Choose forgiveness for myself and those around me. Choose to look for the good. Choose to look for the miracles everyday, and everyday I found something good to smile about. Miracles abounded! Many of my wounds have healed, my scars remain. I have learned to love them – as they are the reminders of what God has done for me. They keep me on this path of learning and sharing with others what I have I lived.
Life continues to challenge and every day I must ‘bathe’ in inspiration, I must continue to choose to make the choices towards happiness. This is my life and what I do yesterday is not really very important – it is what I do today that always matters! Every moment matters. Over and over I have made the choice towards love and forgiveness. Every time I make the choice it leads me further into joy, peace and the unconditional, unlimited love of God. I am determined, with God’s amazing grace, to continue.
It is very good!
life: acoustic & amplified 